The Wiggles
The Wiggles are children's entertainers that have rewritten the book about how children can be entertained with song and dance. Sam (Yellow), Abby (Pink), Murray (Red), Jeff (Purple) and Anthony (Blue) and the characters they have created are now a part of the lives of so many children. The names Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword the friendly Pirate are as recognised by children as The Wiggles themselves. Fashion or fad does not drive the pre-school entertainment scene; it is an area of entertainment where integrity and longevity are the treasured hallmarks of success. Celebrating their 18th year in 2009, The Wiggles have created a catalogue of music, television, video and film that have proven to be modern classics. The Wiggles have always been a touring band, which in part explains the success they have enjoyed. They have kept in constant contact with their public and the public has responded to the music and characters they have created. The Wiggles is an Australian success story that cuts across all demographics, and has now to spread across the world stage. So nothing is left out, let s start at the very beginning! Anthony Field, Murray Cook and Greg Page met while studying Early Childhood Education at Sydney s Macquarie University. The three began writing children s songs as one of their music projects. They enlisted the assistance of Jeff Fatt, who played with Anthony in the popular 1980 s band The Cockroaches, and The Wiggles were born. The Wiggles took the finished tape to ABC Music, who released a self-titled album in 1991. "The Wiggles" album has since achieved Gold and Platinum status and The Wiggles themselves have gone on to become one of the most popular and successful performing acts in Australia, in any age group. Now in their eighteenth big year, The Wiggles continue to entertain more and more children around the world. Their ability to relate to their young audience and to create songs that are both entertaining and educational has made The Wiggles incredibly popular with both children and their parents. Couple their unique song-writing ability with the foursome s genuine enjoyment of what they do, and the result is a live show which has the littlies (and adults) dancing, clapping and singing in the aisles. The band`s Early Childhood training continues to influence the approach they take with their live shows, DVDs and The Wiggles Movie. Anthony Field feels that a lot of The Wiggles success comes from their knowledge of child development. "A lot of what we do comes from a child`s perspective", says Anthony. "It s got a lot to do with what songs are about and the language we use, and I like to think we know how to write pretty catchy tunes. Right from the start we gave a lot of thought to what was appropriate for children`s music." Welcome to the bright and happy world of The Wiggles. The Wiggles are a unique and dynamic musical group who entertain children, enchanting them with the pure joy of their own music and dance. Instantly recognised in their distinctive skivvies, the friendly foursome have been said to be the major force in moving children`s entertainment away from the traditional and into the contemporary area, in a strong positive fashion. Well crafted songs, interesting lyrics, humour that s spot on for the audience s age group, characters that are intelligently constructed and a dialogue with their audience that’s easy to follow and never patronising. All of this and a healthy dose of fun too! Although The Wiggles began as a fun and creative way to work with children through music and song, they hadn`t collectively thought about where it would take them as a group. It didn`t take long however, until the reception the material was getting from both children and their parents alike, indicated that this was something very special. Right from the start, The Wiggles were proven to be on the right track by the most discerning audience of them all - the children themselves. Their list of awards for albums, singles and videos coupled with their extraordinary sales figures would be the envy of any contemporary artist, while the devotion of their enormous, young fan-base sees tickets to their live shows snapped up within minutes. Huge crowds of children and their parents turn up at any live appearance, often in matching skivvies! The Wiggles self-titled first album/DVD was released in 1991 and 18 years and 27 VIDEO/DVD releases later, they have been awarded with 17 Gold, 12 Platinum, 3 Double Platinum and 10 Multi Platinum Awards for sales of over 23 million DVDs and 7 Million CDs worldwide. They have also been awarded with Highest Selling Children’s Video Sales in 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007 at the AVSDA Awards. As songwriters and recording artists, The Wiggles have also been recognised by their peers, winning three prestigious APRA song writing awards for Best Children’s Song of 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2007 as well as each being awarded the prestigious International Award for their success overseas. In 2007, The Wiggles made ARIA Awards history from winning the most ARIA Awards in any one category. The Wiggles have won seven ARIA Awards in the category of Best Australian Children’s Album, for Big Red Car (1995), Wake Up Jeff! (1996) Toot Toot! (1998) Live Hot Potatoes! (2005) Racing To The Rainbow (2006) Pop Go The Wiggles! (2007) and most recently You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (2008) respectively. In 2003 they were awarded the ARIA Outstanding Achievement Award for their success in the USA. When it comes to live performances, it is nearly impossible to find a live act anywhere in Australia, regardless of what age group of musical genre, that comes close to matching their figures. (It s even been estimated that one in two toddlers in Australia either sing-a-long to The Wiggles on video or CD at home or have been to a Wiggles concert - so add that to the many hundreds of thousands of adults who have been "exposed" to The Wiggles phenomena and the numbers become outstanding!). In Australia their annual end of year national tour sells over 120,000 tickets. In the US The Wiggles were launched at the famous Wall Mart in June 1999 while performing in the shopping centre cars parks. In 2003 they performed 12 Sold Out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York and performed to over 250,000 people in November 2005. Their US fans include John Travolta, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, John Fogarty, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Rock, Courtney Cox-Arquette and Cate Blanchett. While The Wiggles regularly tour throughout Australia, The Wiggles have also toured New Zealand three times - where in the first instance they featured at the Mega-Days Children s Expo in Auckland. They have also toured the UK three times and the US has sell out Wiggles tours three times year! Having hit the No. 1 spot in Business Review Weekly’s Australia’s highest earners in the entertainment field for the third year in a row (2007) and being named Australian Exporters of the Year in 2005, the 16 years on constant touring around the world has certainly paid off. In 2003, The Wiggles decided to expand into non English speaking countries with the very first Taiwanese version of The Wiggles. This year, The Wiggles will launch their Spanish speaking counterparts who will tour throughout Central and South America. And possibly in the near future other non English speaking Wiggles will appear throughout the World bringing joy and Wiggly tunes to children of all cultures. 2005 saw the opening of Wiggles World a multi million dollar amusement park at Dream World on the Gold Coast which has been a huge success to all visitors to the park – locals and overseas tourists all lining up to experience the Big Red Car ride. Speaking of amusement parks, The Wiggles will also launch their very first Wiggly Play Centre in the United States of America later this year. With one Wiggly Play Centre under their belts in Seven Hills (Australia), the response has been so huge that a second is being built in Dallas, Texas. The Wiggly Play Centre is a purpose built indoor play centre catering exclusively for the fun, entertainment and development of children. With jumping castles, mazes, themed party rooms, ball pits, big plasma screens playing your favourite Wiggles movies, and delicious food from their Yummy Yummy Café, the Wiggly Play Centre is the number one venue for children looking for fun and excitement. In April 2006, The Wiggles were awarded the Australian Catholic University’s (ACU National) highest honour, Doctor of the University (honoris causa), in recognition of their outstanding contribution to early childhood education. On Thursday 30 November 2006, The Wiggles sadly announced that Greg Page, also known as the Yellow Wiggle, was unable to continue performing with The Wiggles due to a chronic condition known as orthostatic intolerance. Greg had been suffering symptoms for many months, affecting his ability to perform. The condition is related to blood pressure and while in no way life threatening it affects his balance, breathing and coordination at unpredictable times and with varying severity. “This emotional decision was one which was very difficult, as I have dedicated almost half my life to the Wiggles, and with a question mark over my health, I feel that this is the right decision. I will miss The Wiggles and the other guys very much, as well as seeing all the children in the audiences that we perform in front of. I wish the guys continued success, and welcome Sam Moran with open arms to the Yellow Skivvy – I know he is a great performer, and is well equipped to be the Yellow Wiggle,” Greg said. Sam Moran and Abigail Howard joined The Wiggles team in 1998 as hosts with the Dorothy the Dinosaur Show. Sam and Abigail have provided vocals for and appeared in many Wiggles DVDs and TV series. Over the years, Sam and Abby had performed in Wiggles shows across the globe including performing in Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, Hong Kong and Japan. Over this time Sam understudied Greg Page and filled in as the yellow Wiggle and Abby filled in as the pink Wiggle for more than 150 shows. Sam feels honoured to be wearing the yellow skivvy now and is looking forward to his future with The Wiggles with great excitement. At present he is in the middle of creating and performing new Wiggles songs and filming a new TV series. In February 2008, The Wiggles were named as UNICEF GOODWILL AMBASSADORS joining the ranks of Shakira, David Beckham, Nicole Kidman and Roger Federer. The Wiggles have always been great supporters of organisations that help children. As UNICEF ambassadors, they will be focusing on numeracy and literacy as well as sanitation. UNICEF works with children in need in 150 developing countries including Australia’s Northern Territory to improve access to clean water, healthcare, education and food. A special charity concert held at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in May 2008 – featuring The Wiggles performing duets with some of Australia’s top talent including Jimmy Barnes, Kate Ceberano, Leo Sayer and John Paul Young raised over $110,000 for this cause. Back in 1991 when the first album was being recorded, Anthony phoned his old Cockroach band mate Jeff to ask him to help out with keyboards. Jeff, who was renovating his home at the time, replied “Sure, but how long will it Category:The Wiggles It's A Wiggly Wiggly World